Couple, Marriage and Family Counseling Graduate Certificate

The Graduate Certificate in Couple, Marriage and Family Counseling (CMFC) may be pursued as a stand-alone credential or in conjunction with the Master’s Degree in Education in counseling, the Master’s in Social Work degree, the Ed.D., or the Ph.D. in Education. With advance planning, all 12 credits may be applied to the Master’s of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Completion of the CMFC certificate, however, does not guarantee acceptance into any other degree program (which requires a separate application for admission).

Admission Requirements

Requirements for admission to the CMFC certificate program are current “good standing” (non-probation) in an UMSL graduate mental health practitioner training program (such as counseling, social work, or psychology), OR all of the following criteria must be met:

  1. Undergraduate degree with a GPA of 3.0 or better;
  2. Enrollment in a graduate mental health practitioner training program, or completion of a mental health practitioner master’s degree;
  3. Two letters of recommendation with at least one from a current or former college-level instructor (or someone with a graduate degree who can attest to the applicant’s capacity to complete graduate-level work);
  4. Two-page personal statement explaining the applicant's personal and professional goals.

Certificate Requirements

CNS ED 6500Introduction to Systems Theory for Couples and Family Counseling3
CNS ED 6510Marriage Counseling and Enrichment3
CNS ED 6520Family Counseling3
CNS ED 6380Clinical Mental Health Counseling Field Experience 13
or CNS ED 7000 Advanced Theories and Practice of Counseling
or CNS ED 7780 Doctoral Internship
Total Hours12
1

For CNS ED 6380/CNS ED 7000/CNS ED 7780, the counseling must be completed at a site requiring the student to work with couples/families.